The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-03
A WARNING TO NORTHERN MANU-
FACTURERS.
If They Want Certain Prosperity Let
Them Come South.


casion being the laying of the corner stone
of the National Exposition of American In
dustries:
Mr.. president AND MY CoUNTRYMEN:
This is great day for Tennessee, the South
and the whole country. Philanthropy, pa
triotism and private interests are all here to
unite in these imposing ceremonies. They
are here to countenGnce and consecrate the
laying of the corner stone of your temple,
dedicated to industrial progress. Philan-
thropy is here; because the greatest philan-
thropists are the men who relieve want by
providing misunderstanding the deSti-
tute to conquer want by their
own exertions Patriotism is here:
because the greatest patriots are the men
who not only guard every political right,
and every essential principle of government
which protects tine liberty of the citizen,
but who, at the same time, secure for their
country, by every legitimate means, all the
mateIal advantages which it's natural re-
sources can command Private interest is
here; because the greatest promoters of
these interests are those who set on foot
great industrial movements, placing the
means of subsistence within the reach of all,
or of the greatest possible number.
BY the promise, therefore, of increased
| individual and general prosperity, and in
| the name of philanthropy and patriotism,
bid you most cordial God-speed in your
great Undertakings
Nashvilles movement is both timely and
essential. The South has but one alterna-
| tive: she must either be the mere tributary,
the commercial vassal of other sections or
she must call into vigorous play every sleep
ing energy, and grid her loins With all her
inherent power, for the contest is before her
| in the great race for manufacturing devel-
| opment. For the pleasures and profits of
| agricultural life the Southern States of
| America are perhaps, the most favored re-
| gion of this continent, if not OF the world.
| But so long as we confine our energies
solely or mainly to agriculture alone, SO
! long will the mournful and almost tragic
commercial history of the past quarter of a
century continue to repeat itself. With
soil teemlng with riches, with hills and
mountains filled with untold treasures, we
have permitted ourselves to be borne along
| by a current which carried the reward of
our labor largely to other doors and other
Golfers. With skies most benignant, with
| climate most balmy, we have permitted
others to gather the harvests which nature
intended for us. With our very clouds sun
lit and literally saturated with wealth we
have seen them form and float away to pour
| their golden showers upon the fields and
homesteads and cities of other sections.
This has been our past experience. What
shall be our future! Shall we be vassal or
shall we be sovereign in the gigantic growth
of the future. We may-we can be either.
If vassal, it will be because we fail to grasp
and control the mighty forces to utilize the
vast advantages with which nature has SO
richly endowed this favored section. If
| sovereign, it will be because we have simply
| laid our hand in natures hand and followed
where she leads. If sovereign, it will be
because we have simply moved along
the path and up to the plane, to which both
heaven and earth are ever inviting us.
My Southern countrymen, are these idle
words or are they sober, momentous truthsl
Has nature, or has she not. given to this
section patent and potent advantages for
manufacturing industry as well as for agri-
culture. Undoubtedly she has accorded adj
vantages so marked and so numerous as to
amount almost to prodigality. Undoubtedly
she has decreed the Souths ultimate triumph
in manufactures as well as in agriculture
and she has written her decree on all things
around, above and beneath us and in
characters so legible and bold that he who
looks must learn and be convinced
1t would require a volume to fully de
| scribe all the particulars in which the
South's natural superiority as manufac-
turing section consists. 1t viii require but
few words to show that these advantages
really exist. Take the matter of climate
value. 1t costs less expensive houses, less
clothing, less fuel to give warmth and COM
fort to the laborer and he can therefore live
cheaper and work for less wages, or else
accumulate more on the same wages With
an equal amount of care he will have more
health, less of trying diseases or of doctors
bills But besides all this the day
is not far distant when the attractions of
our climate will allure to this section the
! ind fat of no
gions of the North and the great North
west. Climate will thus become an Incl
dental factor in producing additional con-
ditions favorable to manufacturing devel-
opment. With a climate in which outdoor
labor may be performed in comfort, dur
ing every month of the year and
with such returns from the soil, nothing
can prevent this section from becom-
ing a densely populated region. The
truth is, there are so few days, at any sea
son of the year, when labor in the open air
| is either disagreeable or unhealthful that
one is tempted to sympathize with the old
plantation negro, who, when asked how
much of the year he could work outdoors,
replied, "Well, boss, as near as | can calcu-
late, about thirteen months in each year"
Now if you will add TO these climatic ad-
vantages the savings in freights, in insur-
ance, in commissions in storage, ETC., you
viii find in the matter of cotton spinning,
| for instance, that there is margin of fully
10 per cent. in favor of locating the factories
in the South and near the cotton fields.
The advantages of our climate are equally
potential i'm the manufacture OF iron and
other commodities, to which, in each class
of products additional and special advan-
tages might be enumerated.
In this connection, if time and the occa-
sion permitted, | might discuss with posi-
BILE profit Questions of tariff and taxation.
But / have neither the time nor the physical
strength for such discussion. Nor is the oc-
casion opportune; but | may say enough
upon the subject to answer my purpose
without either exhausting my strength OF
doing violence to the courtesies and proprie-
ties of this hour.
None of us are wise enough to predict with
certainty the future policy of the general
government in reference TO the tariff; but
oil of US are wise enough to know that of
all sections OF this Union the Southern
States are the most independent of these
government policies. If protection TO home
industries is to be the doctrine guide us i'm
the future and if this protective tariff shall
enable the cotton spinner of the East and
the iron-maker of the North to realize profit,
the advantages which nature has bestowed
upon this section will give to us still broader
margin and still greater profit than can
possibly be realized by other sections.
II tariff for revenue only, or If free trade
even, should he demanded 10y the popular
will, and IL under such policy manufacture
| ino should ha 1,yarfad ~. do Il, ,.bo,. co.,